Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA) Cut to "Equal Weight" at Wells Fargo & Company

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $20.00 target price on the pipeline company's stock, down from their prior target price of $22.00. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective points to a potential upside of 17.86% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on PAA. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Plains All American Pipeline from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Plains All American Pipeline in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Plains All American Pipeline in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $19.82.

Plains All American Pipeline Stock Performance

NYSE:PAA traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $16.97. 4,519,558 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,832,104. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $17.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Plains All American Pipeline has a 12 month low of $14.91 and a 12 month high of $19.17.

Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE:PAA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.06. Plains All American Pipeline had a return on equity of 11.63% and a net margin of 2.08%. The company had revenue of $12.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. Plains All American Pipeline's revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Plains All American Pipeline will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Plains All American Pipeline

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in Plains All American Pipeline by 48.9% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 3,428,897 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $59,560,000 after buying an additional 1,125,386 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Plains All American Pipeline by 114.9% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,908,416 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $34,081,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,277 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in Plains All American Pipeline during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,634,000. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT increased its holdings in Plains All American Pipeline by 241.0% during the 3rd quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 449,827 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,813,000 after purchasing an additional 317,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV raised its position in Plains All American Pipeline by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 1,321,937 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $22,962,000 after purchasing an additional 297,937 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.78% of the company's stock.

About Plains All American Pipeline

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., through its subsidiaries, engages in the pipeline transportation, terminaling, storage, and gathering of crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) in the United States and Canada. The company operates through two segments, Crude Oil and NGL. The Crude Oil segment offers gathering and transporting crude oil through pipelines, gathering systems, trucks, and on barges or railcars.